


Rumored Identities

by LadyBrooke



Category: The Silmarillion and other histories of Middle-Earth - J. R. R. Tolkien
Genre: Epistolary, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-10
Updated: 2017-04-10
Packaged: 2018-10-16 11:21:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10570263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyBrooke/pseuds/LadyBrooke
Summary: He has to send a letter to Valinor, explaining that they can't come until they find Eluréd and Elurín.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Originally written for Taming the Muse on Dreamwidth, prompt "Gemini".
> 
> Probably slightly weird, but I like the idea of at least one set of Tolkien twins running around starting later myths.

_They are known as the Gemini, twin sons of a mortal woman, one the son of a mortal and the other the son of a god, and they are said to bless sailors and appear as St. Elmo’s fire._  
  
Celeborn paused as he wrote, trying to phrase what he had to say next, in this last letter he would send to Valinor to explain everything that had happened. His twin grandsons were already gone, and everyone knew what had happened to Elros and Elrond, but his great-nephews’ fates hadn’t been known.  
  
_I wonder if they encouraged those rumors themselves, or if their explanations were misunderstood. Certainly, their parentage was slightly mistaken, for Nimloth was an elf, though their father was the son of a mortal man and the grandson of a Maia and elf. An understandable mistake, given how the race of elves was by that time a matter of rumor to mortals._  
  
_The sailors part I find harder to understand. You must understand, while I have searched for them throughout the years, I have never found them. Perhaps on one of the many discussions they seem to have had with mortal men, they disclosed their wish to protect their own nephew and his descendants, and this grew into a rumor that they would protect all sailors._  
  
_St. Elmo’s fire is perhaps the most understandable. If Nimloth sees this, she will surely remember how I had the awful habit of telling far too many stories about my own grandfather to all of my relatives when they were children. It is without doubt that they themselves would have continued this habit, and that when somebody needed a name for that phenomenon, they used Grandfather’s, half remembering it from another tale._  
  
Celeborn stared at the page. It seemed altogether too short to explain everything that needed to be said, but it seemed increasingly unlikely that he would ever leave these shores, and they deserved some explanation of why.  
  
_I understand that my own lack of arrival will probably be locked at with doubt. I am sorry for that, but I cannot bear to forsake any more of my family until I am sure I have done all possible to ensure that if they want to come, they have a chance._  
  
_I will remain here until I have found the boys, or some sign of where they have been now. Stories of immortal twins who appear in moments of crisis are unfortunately widespread, so I doubt that it will come any time soon. Thranduil also wishes to remain, though I have urged him to leave and that he has no responsibility to ensure the safe passage of anyone, given that he was hardly expected to take on a role of guardian to the twins. I suspect he, like the rest of us, still feels some guilt for not being able to save our king and his family at any of the points where it could have made a difference._  
  
_Please forgive us for any duties we have neglected in the pursuit of this one._  
  
_Celeborn_


End file.
